Category Archives: Photo Walks

October 2, 2012

The Way of the Wanderer

I had a realization the other day when I went out on 2 photo walks, the first around my neighbourhood and the second to a spot I love to take photos at.

The first only covered a few blocks of my neighbourhood. Slowly I wandered around capturing whatever I found in front of me. Sometimes it was a flower or something growing, other times an unexpected cat crossing my path or the way the light looked. It felt good to take a street I hadn’t taken before and see a beautiful mural written on a schoolyard.

The second photo walk was actually a photo bike ride. I wanted to take a break from my computer and knew the bright sunshine wasn’t scheduled to last so I took off for one of my favourite places to take photos, this little island in the middle of the city. I had a lovely ride, feeling alive and having lots of space to clear my thoughts. I arrived at the island and immediately felt frustrated as it was lunch hour and was jam packed with people. My master plan of shooting selfies in this spot was thwarted as every spot on this island seemed to have someone sitting there (maybe next time I won’t go at lunch time). I felt frustrated that I couldn’t create what I had imagined I would.

Then it hit me why the act of taking a photo walk feels so vital both to my creative process.

Its because it is unknown.

It takes you on a journey. It invites you not to just go to one spot and try to get a photo, which for me often leads to a feeling of success or failure. But instead it invites you into a process. Of noticing light and shadow, of seeking out spots, of being okay with moving on if a dog starts barking at you or you don’t feel comfortable. You just move on and see what else you can find.

Photowalks shift my creative energy from big expectations to embracing the unexpected.

I hadn’t realized it in that way before, that if I can take the creative process out of a success or failure mode. Out of being determined to capture one specific image and being open to creating the image that I find.

Just a realization of my creative process that I thought I’d share! Here are a few more glimpses of that photo walk.

September 17, 2012

Adventures on the Sunshine Coast

August 29, 2012

Late Summer Garden Wanderings

I know we’re on the verge of the shift of season.

The forecast forewarned me of it was about to happen so I grabbed my camera for an evening stroll through the community garden this weekend, knowing those blue skies were about to get a bit less frequent.

I’m ready for it, not the clouds, but the coziness. The nesting.

It honestly has felt more like I had a ‘real summer’ than I’ve had in years. There was lots of work to be done this summer, but also room for lots of play. A week at the cottage with the family, a getaway with friends to explore Ucluelet and Tofino, that amazing weekend in Whistler and lots of time spent with friends simply sitting in the sun and connecting.

This past session of E-Courses is coming to a close too. I had so much fun seeing the images of the Chakra Photo Adventurers these last 7 weeks and oh my…this past session of Montage really blew me away (more on that soon).

There is lots more coming this fall:

You are Your Own Muse starts September 10th and we have such a lovely collection of folks gathering for it (and you get the Wading In PDF when you sign up, as a way to get inspired before class starts).

Light Hunters begins September 1st (maybe this is your month to fall in love with light).

Montage runs again this November!

As always, if you are wondering if a certain course is a good fit for you, please don’t hesitate to email me!

August 15, 2012

Playful Self-Portraiture

One of my mottos in my courses, especially the self-portrait classes is that Playfulness is an Antidote to Fear.

Its so easy to get caught up in our left brain worries about the technicalities of using a camera, or to let feelings of fear about how the photo might turn out and the vulnerabilities that arise if we don’t like the self-portrait we are trying to take. Those are totally valid feelings, but don’t help us if we get stuck in them and don’t give ourselves the chance to move forward from them.

Funny thing is, when we get playful, be that moving our bodies and doing a silly dance or being goofy; often the photos that will arise from that will be ones we can’t help but smile at. Then before you know it, its not so scary to turn the camera on yourself anymore.

Yesterday I went for a big bike ride on my favourite trail out to a park in Burnaby. I was just doing my usual thing, putting the camera on the ground or on my bike seat and moving and dancing. Then I had a silly thought.

What if I spun around holding the camera? How had I never tried that before?

I discovered that it would (for the most part) keep me in focus but the background in this awesome state of blur.

So yes, I became that girl in the woods spinning round and round pointing the camera at herself.

And it was ridiculously fun.

I’m always excited to think of new prompts for the participants in You are Your Own Muse (new online session running this fall….and an in person version this weekend…yahoooo) but I felt drawn to share this one right away.

You know, just in case you thought self-potraiture had to be all high art and serious.

Not so much, eh!

Will you join me today and do a little spin-selfie with me? All you need to do is aim the camera at your self and spin!

Here are a few other silly shots that occurred from all that spinning:

August 14, 2012

Morning Light

I’m back home from my trip, but most definitely still on East Coast time.

Rising early makes me happy though, so while making coffee this morning I decided to do something a bit different.

I poured my coffee into a travel mug, grabbed my camera, and headed out for an early morning stroll around my neighbourhood.

Despite being an early riser, I don’t know early morning light as well as I do other types of light and how they relate to my camera. So todays stroll felt like an invitation to get to know it better.

It was blissfully quiet in usually oh so happening neighbourhood. Most of the day there are people strolling around, folks hanging out on their front porches, working in their gardens, bikes happily speeding by, people walking dogs and just generally neighbourhood goodness happening. I adore that about this area but I also really love this quiet glimpse of it.

So I’m daring myself to keep this going for a bit. A low pressure stroll, just taking in the light and the world around me. While usually morning is my prime work time, I definitely have a tendancy to spend the first half hour surfing the net, reading trashy celebrity gossip blogs (not so fond of that habit, but i confess it is true), so I’d love to make better use of that slowly waking up time…at least while the light is so beautiful and summer still feels very much present.

Do you know morning light well? Perhaps you’re out there walking your dog in it each day or are fast asleep until the sun is much farther up in the sky?

So, here are some glimpses of this mornings stroll: